Publication Date
2007
Abstract
It is increasingly clear, Milner once wrote, that "the external world keeps reflecting back what we bring to it." 5 He extends his emphasis on reciprocity between observer and observed from nature and language to the realm of faith. Those who seek to be observant only of settled rules or texts have missed the crucial roles of context, reciprocity, and change. In the Hebrew Bible, for example, Milner argues that Moses hears and speaks as "counsel for a situation" as someone whose word "does not return empty."6 Indeed, Moses is able to be "mouth for the people exactly because he is mouth for God."' What is asked of the people, over and over, is to give ear and to hear. And though, as Milner notes, God does not seem to have a metaphoric ear, "[e]ntailed in God's speaking is a return hearing and in the hearing a return speaking."
The concept of reciprocity may never be simple in everyday life, in teaching and learning, and certainly in theology. Yet reciprocity has been a central theme Milner has tackled and explored throughout his career. Biblical stories should be read, he claims, to "engender[ ] critique and liberation."9 They must subvert and offer alternatives, even as" 'one generation tells another how the future shapes the present out of the past.'
Recommended Citation
Soifer, Aviam
(2007)
"Hear Today, God Tomorrow?: To Be in but Not of the Law with Moses, and Milner Ball,"
Georgia Law Review: Vol. 41:
No.
3, Article 13.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/glr/vol41/iss3/13